Box Score The Wildcats held off a Castleton State rally in the seventh inning to knock off the Spartans, 4-3, for the Wildcats' third straight win in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex today.
The second game was postponed after rain wiped out a 2-0 Wildcat lead in the bottom of the second inning. No makeup date has been set.
Rob Bocchetti (Sr., East Meadow, N.Y.) provided his second game-winning hit in as many days, scoring pinch-running Brad McParlin (Jr., Pawtucket, R.I.) with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to give JWU a short-lived 4-1 lead.
The Spartans (9-6) closed to within a run in their half of the seventh inning and placed the tying run at third after consecutive singles by Tyler Lord (Sr., South Burlington, Vt.), Nick Swim (So., St. Albans, Vt.) and Danny Errico (Jr., West Hartford, Conn.) led off the seventh. After Lord scored on Errico's single to make it 4-2, Tyler Hoare (Sr., Waterbury, Ct.) sacrificed Swim to third and Errico to second. Sophomore first baseman Jim Buckley (Nashua, N.H.) hit a dribbler in front of the mound for the second out, but Swim was able to score to make it 4-3. Wildcat closer Bryan Quinlan (Soph., Pawtucket, R.I.) then induced a ground ball to first baseman Mike Davlos (Fr., New Milford, Ct.) to lock up his second save of the year.
Johnson & Wales took full advantage of a gratuitous Castleton defense to put their first three runs on the board. Bocchetti and Kory Ferullo (Sr., Rochester, N.H.) both reached on infield errors and scored on a single by Ivan Reyes (Fr., Cranston, R.I.) down the left field line. Lou Umberto (So., Cranston, R.I.) scorched a double to left to lead off the third and scored to make it a 3-0 lead when Jordan Pilarski's (Jr., Garnet Valley, PA) pop-up was misplayed at first.
The three Castleton errors spoiled an outstanding performance by Spartan ace Sam Spencer, who gave up six hits, including three in the infield. The junior righthander from West Bolton, Vermont, struck out five and walked one.
Bocchetti and Ryan Cabral (Soph., Hope, R.I.) both had two hits for JWU, which evened its record at 6-6.
Woonsocket's Brandon Rainville notched his first win of the year on the mound for the Wildcats. The sophomore allowed two hits, struck out four, and walked three.
The Wildcats will open their Great Northeast Athletic Conference season tomorrow with a noontime doubleheader against Lasell College at noon.
